Category Archives: Family

Visitors

We had some very sweet visitors and they brought dinner and flowers. They are so considerate. Addy got used to the idea that I could not lift her up in my arms but she could climb up and crawl into my lap. We got lots of great hugs from Addy. Thanking God for all the kindness I receive and have received with good wishes and prayers.

We’ve had other visitors the last couple of days, too.

Eye drops are being instilled well at our Country Bungalow. It is hard to sit around and notice things that need to be done like dusting.  I won’t be dusting for now, though, because I’m suppose to avoid getting dust in my eyes. I’m making a list of things to do when I get the go ahead from the doctor. I have those super dark eye shades to put over my regular glasses if I go out in the sunshine. We are going to have another 99 degree day today and then we are suppose to cool down to the 80’s tomorrow.

The Williams Flats Fire on the Colville Reservation is now at over 34,000 acres and only 25% contained. Our views and air are affected.

 

August First

This little guy is 3-1/2 months and he continues to charm us with his smile and baby conversations.

He loves to interact face to face.

His whole body gets moving when he makes eye contact with you.

Brother and Sister taken on August 1, 2019. Addy’s vocabulary and sentences are increasing so rapidly. Her commands make me chuckle. “Stay here”, “Don’t move”. Then there are the expressions, “No way hwozay” instead of “no way Jose”.

It’s summer and a few weeks ago I captured these photos at swimming lessons of Addy with her daddy.

She has one more week of swimming lessons next week.

What are you doing to keep cool this summer?

Sunflowers!

A field of sunshine! On the way back from picking up Laura at the airport in Spokane we pulled off the highway to take some photos of the acres of sunflowers on this farm.

Addy was so excited that Laura came to visit. Addy loves her auntie Lolo.

And…she loves to hop!

Jaymison is charming us more and more with his smiles and verbalizing.

We have been summer busy at our country bungalow and my computer isn’t getting much action. My creative brain is being zapped by the sunshine and yardwork. Hope you are enjoying your summer.

A Good Day to be Born…

Our grandson was born today. Mommy and baby are doing well. As soon as mommy and daddy give me the go ahead I will share all the details and some photos, too. We are all so thrilled and tired, too. It’s exhausting waiting all day. I bought this puzzle to put together while we waited. Katie and I were able to complete it about an hour before BBB was born. So thankful to God for his watch care over us all.

On the “Coast”

We are having a productive and relational time on the “Coast”, with our Coast kids. In our new part of the state, the home town folk call anything on the west side of the Cascades, the Coast. We are embracing that since it’s easier to say we are going to the Coast instead of going to the West side of the Cascades!

Our Coast kids planned a belated birthday celebration for me at Earls in Bellevue and they asked my sister and her husband to join us. It was a wonderful time together with perfect weather.

We walked to a park before we all headed home for a group selfie. Who’s missing in this photo? Dear is missing, but why?

On Friday we stopped by a great local pharmacy so Dear could get updated on his TDAP vaccine. In order for any of us to be welcome around our new grandson we have to be up to date on this vaccine. There have been Whooping Cough outbreaks in Washington state and our newborn’s doctor insists that anyone who will be around him needs to be vaccinated. The shot was painless but the side effects for Dear have not been painless. He was fine on Friday night but Saturday was a brutal day of side effects for him. We had to leave him home alone, so sad, while the rest of us enjoyed our meal out. He is doing better this Sunday afternoon but wasn’t able to attend church with all of us Sunday morning. It was my first time at our Coast Kids church and I’m so thankful to God for leading them to this great church where the Bible is the source of preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

While on the Coast, we have been shopping for special items needed for our eastside kids. Laura found a used Bob double stroller on Offer Up that Dear and I were happy to buy for Addy and BBB. What a monster it is. It will work great on country trails and uneven surfaces. It came with an added accessory that an infant car seat will click into. The Coast affords many more options and availability to find used good equipment. We’ve also shopped for new items for Katie and Andrew’s home. More relational times are planned before we head home on Wednesday.

Hope y’all don’t get fooled tomorrow! Watch out and stay clear of all the fools out there!

The Weekend Roundup “J”

It’s time for the Weekend Roundup and we are on the letter J with the following prompts.

1. Starts with “J.”
2. A Favorite.
3. “J”ump.

Starts with “J”. We named our firstborn Joshua. We call him Josh. His sister called him Foffie when she was little. Others who love him call him Joshie. He is strong and courageous.

He lights up a room whenever he enters and you don’t have to take a mother’s word for it. Friends and associates will tell you the same thing.

A Favorite:

Josh with his niece who loves him and always recognizes him and she even recognizes his favorite jersey, The Sounders jersey. When I wear my Sounders coat she looks at it and says Josh!

Jump: Young and Old jumping, our niece Hope with her grandfather or Dzeda, our Pop in his late 80’s jumping on Hope’s trampoline.

We’ve added a J to our family in 2015, our DIL Jamie. She’s another favorite of ours and is a wonderful mom to our grandchildren and wife to our second born son, Daniel.

Joining up with Tom The Backroads Traveller for The Weekend Roundup.

How is your weekend rounding up?

 

Christmas in the 60’s

Christmases at 305 Los Angeles Avenue in Montebello, California.

The eight surviving Bagdanov kids. I’m the one in yellow, youngest of the first 5 (our oldest sister died in Iran when she was 2). My parents had four more children after me. The two youngest amongst us are twins.

Me with my two older sisters.

Our brother Fred is missing from this photo. Can’t remember why. Oops…just realized this one is probably Easter, not Christmas.

Christmas morning at our little babushka’s apartment a few doors down from the Russian Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

Nadia and Moisi, our dear parents. This will be our first Christmas without both our parents.

Hope all is merry and bright in your corner of the world.

Half Way

Our little grandson has about 20 more weeks before we see him face to face. Our kids posted this photo last night on Facebook and I had to preserve it here on my blog.

Looking forward to this little girls reaction to a new baby in the house. She’s into the goofy smiles when she knows the camera is going to click.

Wanted to post the beautiful bouquet all our kids joined in sending us with a special greeting for our anniversary on December 6th.

It was a sweet surprise that we don’t take for granted.

Hopefully we’ll cut our tree down soon so I can decorate it. We’re getting closer and closer to the painting that we want done by Christmas to be behind us. We’ve decided we need to add some new Christmas music to our stash this year so we’ve added The Piano Guys, Lauren Daigle and the Three Tenors. One of our favorites is still Twila Paris, It’s the Thought. We also have to have the Messiah so we can hear the Hallelujah Chorus ring through the house. What are some of your favorites?

Westside Celebrations

On the first day of December we made the drive south to connect to interstate 90 and east and over the Cascade mountain range to the greater Seattle area of Washington, about 365 miles.

Our oldest son and daughter-in-law welcomed us to their new home for the weekend with a beautiful suite for us to stay in.

Their home has been decorated beautifully by Laura and now the Christmas touches have been added for the month of December. We spent a quiet Saturday evening in their home.

On Sunday we saw them off for a fun birthday adventure with Laura’s side of the family and then we prepared for our trip north to Canada for the annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas dinner. As we prepared for our journey we had the revelation that we had left our passports way back in Colville. We were so sad to realize this mistake on our parts and started considering what to do. Since I have an enhanced license we decided I would make the 2-1/2 hour drive on my own. The roads and border crossing were great and the afternoon/evening was fabulous. It was so good to see the “girls” and their husbands again. While I was in Canada Dear was able to enjoy a meal out with our Western Washington kids!

I’ll share about the party and the rest of our weekend in other posts.

I watched the service for President George H.W. Bush on Wednesday. What a rich experience that was filled with reverence and emotion.

Have you ever read the lyrics to Hail to the Chief?

Hail to the Chief we have chosen for the nation
Hail to the Chief, we salute him, one and all
(We salute him)
Hail to the Chief as we pledge cooperation
In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call

Yours is the aim to make this grand country grander
This you will do, that’s our strong, firm belief
(Our firm belief)
Hail to the one we selected as commander
Hail to the President! Hail to the Chief!

Hope your week is going well.

A Week in Mosaics

Saturday November 3rd we spent some time at Dan, Jamie and Addy’s. The guys worked on getting firewood cut and stored for winter. Jamie was able to get some chores done while Addy and Baba walked and played.

We walked with her trike and also with her stroller.

On our way home going down the kids’ driveway we saw this majestic bird.

Fast forward to Friday November 9th. We got our first snow. As we understand it the Colville area got their first snow last year on November 9th, too. It’s probably time to put the patio furniture away.

The Quail were in our yard in the mornings finding whatever it is that they eat. They sure are plumping up!

My sister Lana and her husband Steve arrived at our place safe and sound from the airport in Spokane in their rental car avoiding two separate accidents on highway 395 caused by slick icy roads. We all enjoyed a BBQ meal out in Kettle Falls with our kids’ joining us. We came to our place after for dessert. Addy enjoyed having my and great aunt Lana’s attention. Saturday morning we took Steve and Lana to see the kids’ house and to have breakfast together. Addy decided Great Aunt Lana is her new best friend. Later on Saturday after some shopping and movie watching we drove to Chewelah to our favorite Mexican Restaurant for dinner.

On Sunday Steve and Lana were interested in a walk or a hike so we drove 3.2 miles from our home to Douglas Falls Grange Park and found a nature trail to try. It was a good walk in the forest.

When we got home I whipped up a chowder to warm us up. It was a good recipe from Taste of Home that I’ll try to share soon. Steve and Lana are headed back to Spokane to catch their flight to Seattle. It was very nice having our first overnight guests at our Country Bungalow. Lots of good food and laughter to wrap our memories in.

Linking up with Angie at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf for Mosaic Monday. Thank you Angie for hosting.